164 Timehri. 



Necessity of Cheap Transport. 



How long'is this to go on ? Scientific mining with modern machinery 

 is almost impossible under existing conditions. Many companies have 

 tried and failed, killed by the cost of transport and labour and insufficient 

 working capital. I am glad to say we still have two, thanks to the 

 enterprise of local merchants and much honest, persevering work done 

 under great difficulties by the mine managers. These two are increas- 

 ingly prosperous ; both are dredging companies working respectively in the 

 Potaro and Konawaruk valleys. But even these could hardly exist with- 

 out the little Wismar-Rockstone Railway, and even now with steamer, 

 then railway, then small launch services, transport to Potaro and 

 Konawaruk is still a very expensive matter. Without a railway from the 

 coast it is practically impossible to build the much-w T anted cross-country 

 lines connecting up the rivers in the mineralised belt. To build a line 

 from Potaro mouth to the Mazaruni, without a railway from the coast to 

 that point, would cost more than double on account of the ruinous cost of 

 transport. And so it must be with any other such linking up lines from 

 the Mazaruni to Cuyuni, Barama and Barima rivers. I should mention 

 that a line from the Potaro to the Mazaruni would strike the latter river 

 so as to give access to over 100 miles of navigable river above the 

 rapids. 



From the Potaro and Konawaruk alone last year, under existing 

 conditions, 19,263 ounces of gold were won. 



There is a most curious distrust in this colony of the existence of 

 fertile land in the interior. That distrust is shared by very few of those 

 who know the interior and w T ho know something of agriculture or who 

 are observant travellers. No one who has examined the Indian clearings 

 on the banks of the Essequibo and other rivers and their clearings in the 

 forests of the savannah country can fail to recognise that there is plenty 

 of fertile land for all likely to apply for it for many generations. On the 

 savannahs there are plenty of fertile areas, and in this latitude almost 

 any land will produce crops if rainfall or irrigation is sufficient. 



For over two hundred miles from the coast valuable timber forests 

 would be traversed before reaching the open savannahs over 6,000 miles 

 in area, which have such proved possibilities for cattle-raising, and they 

 adjoin 12,000 square miles of savannah country in Brazil. 



Recent news is that beyond the Southern Rupunuui savannah, in 

 the far south of this colony, gold has been found — another forcible argu- 

 ment in favour of a railway. Once the savannahs are reached transport 

 is easy. Without a railway how can even gold deposits be exploited 

 except in a small way ? 



Attraction for Immigrants. 

 With a railway immigration from Barbados and possibly other 

 islands should be attracted, and much of the labour employed in building 

 the railway would probably settle along the line. Any railway scheme 



